“For there is not any thing secret that shall not be made manifest, nor hidden, that shall not be known” (Luke 8:17). The moral danger of forgetting that the Lord is our intimate companion and knows us better than we know ourselves gives rise to temptations and sins that beset us with the consequence of rejecting His love and friendship.
Well-known and once-venerable personalities have fallen from their lofty perches following sexual harassment allegations. The very bankable and expensive face of NBC News himself, Matt Lauer, is gone overnight after what management determined were credible allegations. The American institution, author, storyteller, humorist, voice actor, and radio personality responsible for originating what are among the greatest classics of National Public Radio, such as the tales of Lake Wobegon, Garrison Keillor, is also banished after being accused of the same.
The flood of accusations and firings continues to come weekly and there may not be an end to it soon. As more senators, TV personalities, and others among the rich and famous are toppled from their thrones the world is changing. Will it be for the better?
Some pundits lay the blame for the rash of accusations at the feet of Bill Clinton for glorifying predatory sexual behavior. It is true that a fish rots from the head down. Perhaps his well-publicized erotic White House escapades with a young intern did encourage others to entertain thoughts of giving into temptations of fornication or adultery in the workplace or professional world.
Whatever the origins of the most recent revelations across the media, government, political, and business spectrums, temptation itself is not a new phenomenon. What is new is the near total eclipse of reasonable and commonsense deterrents against destructive behavior to which any of us could fall victim. Glorification of infidelity and fornication added to that make for a potentially combustible mix.
The bizarre reactions to Vice President Pence’s statement that he avoids going to some social gatherings without the company of his wife are an example of the extreme jettisoning of common sense and prudence regarding the unpredictable and powerful nature of sexual attraction.
It is a good thing that corporations and other organizations do not want to be associated in any way with sexually abusive behavior of any kind. Our society in this period, however, is ripe for another kind of abuse in reaction: a hysterical Salem-style witch-hunt. If the caution of prudence is thrown out the window in response to the torrent of accusation revelations, so that cases are not thoroughly and properly investigated, injustices can occur. Lives are at stake on both sides of the issue.
What is the answer, the way out of the moral swamp into which our society and even our Church to an extant have sunk? The answer is the moral “life ring” of chastity which can save those adrift in the moral relativism of our age.
Chastity is the answer as the Church has always taught officially. This remains true though, perhaps out of embarrassment, a sense of hypocrisy, or denial, many have refused to acknowledge it or to pass it on. Some parents (and priests) run to the Theology of the Body industry as a forum for talking about sexual issues with children. It’s not perfect but, whatever the weaknesses and strengths of the program, it may leave some teens scratching their heads wondering why their parents are avoiding saying the “c” (that is, chastity) word.
Children are to be raised in Eucharistic Faith and practice to learn and grow in the knowledge and belief that the Lord sees them in love and to make a return of that love. Learning to sense His paternal gaze upon us early in life provides great moral strength and growth in grace.
Anyone can easily fall victim to living a double life, outwardly conformist whether to religion or societal norms, while privately flouting the laws of God and man. Raised to pray and worship, however, with regular practice of such on the Lord’s Day, encourages a moral sense in the child as called to holiness. We must remain near the holiness of God all of our lives in order to hear His call and receive His help. This should begin as early as possible in the life of each and every child, so that they know what is right and reject what is wrong and also have the grace of God to follow through.
It is not a cultural Christianity, however, that will help us to avoid sexual temptation. Doing what others do because they do it in the end isn’t enough, because when those others do what is wrong we are likely to also lose our moral compass.
We must learn to do what is right and good because God commands it. The sixth imperative of the Decalogue, “Thou shalt not commit adultery,” is the source of much of our teaching on sexuality. That the marital act is reserved alone to those who are validly married, and that all others must dedicate themselves to celibacy or abstinence until marriage, flows from it. That God would command something and then leave us without the help to obey Him would be a cruel and false caricature of the true God who has fully revealed His infinite love flowing from the pierced heart of His Son on Calvary.
Of all the graces He gives, it is His Son sacrificed for us on Calvary and whose Presence and Sacrifice continue most perfectly in the Eucharist who provides the graces of chastity outside of marriage and fidelity within it.
Nature abhors a vacuum. Human beings need a reason to be good and other human beings are a very undependable reason for something as important as touching upon our eternal salvation. No, our moral life — of such supreme interest to the Lord — must be lived for Him and for His sake and then only after that for others, such as spouse, children, family, friends, coworkers, and others.
We do owe others a good example, and we should desire to appear to be good as much as to be good. As well, for love of Him who looks upon our every thought and movement with divine solicitude, and who is a jealous God, we love others and seek to be good.
The Lord looks into the heart and sees all we do, and it is His opinion that matters most. No, sex is not entertainment, even for consenting adults. It is a sacred gift for marriage alone. Leave it where God put it or you’ll get burned — as we see with so many victims. Only one man and one woman already committed within marriage can properly handle such a potentially explosive and powerful gift. God’s plan for marriage keeps the marital act holy, life-giving, and loving.
God is not indifferent to our use of His grace and we either grow in it or lose it altogether:
“Take heed therefore how you hear. For whosoever hath, to him shall be given: and whosoever hath not, that also which he thinketh he hath, shall be taken away” (Luke 8:18).
Thank you for reading and praised be Jesus Christ, now and forever. @MCITLFrAphorism

Vatican City, Feb 17, 2018 / 05:10 am (CNA/EWTN News).- On Saturday the Vatican announced that Pope Francis has reconfirmed Cardinal Sean O’Malley of Boston as head of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, also reconfirming seven members…Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. – In response to the Trump administration’s 2019 federal budget proposal on Monday, the U.S. Catholic bishops are urging for a budget that shows greater concern for “‘the least of these” and warning that the U.S. “must never seek…Continue Reading

A Connecticut high school student may have to decide whether to remove a Planned Parenthood sticker on her laptop or leave her Catholic school after administrators told her to remove it, her parents said. Sophomore Kate Murray’s parents told the Greenwich Time that…Continue Reading

February 8, 2018 (LifeSiteNews) – The Bible’s condemnation of homosexual acts should be taken in “context” with Biblical times, Jesuit Father James Martin toldGeorgetown University students recently. Martin said as well that Catholics who support gay “marriage” should have no problem…Continue Reading

JACKSON, Mississippi, February 2, 2018 (LifeSiteNews) – A bill banning abortion on babies more than 15 weeks old passed the Mississippi state House today 79-31. House Bill 1510 would make Mississippi the state with the most pro-life laws if it…Continue Reading

Just three Democrats in the U.S. Senate supported a bill on Monday that would prohibit abortions after 20 weeks when unborn babies are capable of feeling pain. The Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, which has strong public support from Republicans…Continue Reading

ROME, January 30, 2018 (LifeSiteNews) – In an exclusive interview two weeks after issuing a profession of immutable truths about sacramental marriage, Bishop Athanasius Schneider is inviting his brother bishops around the world to join in raising a common voice…Continue Reading

As Katholisch.de, the official website of the German bishops, reports today, Cardinal Willem Eijk, the Dutch cardinal and Metropolitan Archbishop of Utrecht, requested that Pope Francis bring light into the confusion concerning the question as to how to deal with…Continue Reading

When Selena Miller, a practicing Catholic, applied to DePaul, she had no idea it was a Catholic university. Damita Meneves, another practicing Catholic, said she has met only one other Catholic student in her first year at DePaul. DePaul is…Continue Reading

His Eminence, Raymond Leo Cardinal Burke, spoke recently with Thinking with the Church, hosted by Chris Altieri, who is also a regular contributor to Catholic World Report. Cardinal Burke responds to questions regarding the interpretation and reception of the post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation, Amoris…Continue Reading

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By DON FIER (Editor’s Note: His Eminence Raymond Leo Cardinal Burke, Patron of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta and Founder of the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in La Crosse, Wis., graciously took time out of his busy schedule to grant The Wanderer a wide-ranging interview during a recent visit to the Shrine. Included among the topics…Continue Reading

By RAYMOND LEO CARDINAL BURKE (Editor’s Note: His Eminence Raymond Leo Cardinal Burke delivered the address below at the 32nd Annual Church Teaches Forum, “The Message of Fatima: Peace for the World,” Galt House, Louisville, Ky., July 22, 2017. The address is reprinted here with the kind permission of Cardinal Burke. All rights reserved. This is part one of the…Continue Reading

Catechism

Today . . .

There’s nothing, it seems, that the abortion chain Planned Parenthood won’t sue over. On Thursday, affiliates of the abortion chain in seven states sued the Trump administration for cutting funding for their questionable teen pregnancy prevention programs. The Daily Nonpareil reports the lawsuits argue that the Trump administration wrongly cut their funding prematurely and without cause. Nine groups, including Planned Parenthood affiliates in Washington, Iowa, North Carolina, South C

CAMBRIDGE, England, February 15, 2018 (LifeSiteNews) – A respected Catholic historian and philosopher challenged Cardinal Blase Cupich during a lecture last week about Pope’ Francis so-called “revolution of mercy” that has caused what many are defending as a “paradigm shift” in Catholic practice. Professor John Rist, after listening to a February 9 lecture at Cambridge Universityin which Cardinal Cupich praised Pope Francis’ “paradigm shift” in Catholic practice, asked the Cardinal at the end of the lect

VIENNA, Austria, February 14, 2018 (LifeSiteNews) – Austria’s bishops, led by Vienna’s Cardinal Christoph Schönborn, are indignant over a retired bishop’s passionate defense of Catholic teaching in opposing Church “blessings” for homosexual unions. After Bishop Andreas Laun, the retired Auxiliary Bishop of Salzburg, Austria, published Monday his strong rebuke of the German bishops for proposing to bless homosexual couples, there has been an inten

Cardinal Blase Cupich of Chicago is all for clarity. It has been a consistent theme, as when in September of 2017 he issued a decree banning guns in all parishes, schools and other facilities across the archdiocese “so there would be absolute clarity on our position.” His official statement put “clarity” in italics. When he was bishop of Rapid City, he called for “civility and clarity” in discussing legislation that would limit abortion, but he…Continue Reading

BEIJING — A group of influential Catholics published an open letter Monday express their shock and disappointment at report that the Vatican could soon reach a deal with the Chinese government, warning that it could create a schism in the church in China. The Holy See has been in negotiations for several years with the Chinese Communist Party and is now belie

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WASHINGTON, D.C. — Within a week of taking office on January 23, 2017, President Trump reinstated and expanded the Mexico City Policy, now called the Protecting Life in Global Health Assistance, which bans U.S. funding for abortions overseas. The expanded policy prohibits $9 billion in U.S. taxpayer money from funding foreign organizations that perform or…Continue Reading

By HANNAH BROCKHAUS VATICAN CITY (CNA/EWTN News) — The Congregation for the Causes of Saints has approved the second miracle needed for the canonization of Blessed Pope Paul VI, allowing his canonization to take place, possibly later this year. According to Vatican Insider, the Congregation for the Causes of Saints approved the miracle by a…Continue Reading

By STEPHEN M. KRASON (Editor’s Note: Stephen M. Krason’s Neither Left nor Right, but Catholic column appears monthly [sometimes bimonthly] in Crisis. He is professor of political science and legal studies and associate director of the Veritas Center for Ethics in Public Life at Franciscan University of Steubenville. He is also cofounder and president of…Continue Reading

By LISA BOURNE (Editor’s Note: LifeSiteNews ran this story on February 5.) + + + A Catholic priest is calling on bishops to excommunicate the 14 Catholic-identifying U.S. senators who voted two weeks ago against banning late-term abortions. He is also calling on priests to deny the Catholic pro-abortion senators Holy Communion. “Today is the…Continue Reading

By JAMES LIKOUDIS The centuries-old theological debate concerning the existence of Limbo for unbaptized babies (the limbo puerorum as a state of natural happiness) led to the 2007 publication of the document The Hope of Salvation for Infants Who Die Without Being Baptized by the International Theological Commission (ITC). The commission concluded there are “serious…Continue Reading

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Our Catholic Faith (Section B of print edition)

By DON FIER For a variety of reasons (a defect of consent, a diriment impediment, or a defect of the required form), many supposed modern-day marriages entered into by Catholic persons are invalid from their origin in the eyes of God and the Church. However, as we saw last week, depending on the circumstances, the Church has procedures by which…Continue Reading

Q. Concerning what our Blessed Mother said in Fatima about the rosary, I am confused as to whether or not she meant us to meditate on the mysteries while we are praying the Hail Marys or whether she meant us to meditate on the mysteries right before we say the Hail Marys. The consensus seems to be that we are…Continue Reading

By FR. ROBERT ALTIER Second Sunday Of Lent Readings: Gen. 22:1-2, 9a, 10-13, 15-18 Romans 8:31b-34 Mark 9:2-10 In the first reading today we hear about Abraham’s nearly incomprehensible act of faith and love for God shown in his willingness to sacrifice his own son. We have to be careful not to read this in a vacuum. This test, which…Continue Reading

By ANDREA GAGLIARDUCCI (Wanderer Editor’s Note: Catholic News Agency on February 3 published a commentary concerning a 1989 Vatican response to dissent against Humanae Vitae. Below is an excerpted version of that commentary. Following that, we reprint the full text of the 1989 Vatican response, which, as the CNA commentary explains, is now available on the Vatican’s website. Please also…Continue Reading

By FR. KEVIN M. CUSICK A joke sometimes recounted among clergy goes along these lines: Someone greets a wise old priest by asking, “What’s new?”, and he responds, sagely, “Christ is risen!” The humor here is less about what’s new than about the fact that everything, other than the only true revolution of Christ’s Incarnation and triumph over death, is…Continue Reading

By CAROLE BRESLIN Great sinners make great saints. It takes a strong-willed child to become a saint. These are statements which would easily fit saints such as Mary Magdalene and St. Augustine. In the thirteenth century, a young lady free in spirit and strong in will led such a life that she was essentially driven from her home village, but…Continue Reading

By CAROLE BRESLIN In the lives of the saints one thing is very common: They have such a strong desire to do God’s will that nothing will hinder their work. Many saints, despite illness, weak health, or many other obstacles achieved their goals. Frequently the amount of work accomplished by such individuals seems humanly impossible — and, of course, it…Continue Reading